ORI SASSON – BRONZE MEDAL – RIO 2016

Ori Sasson

Born: August 18, 1990

Discipline: Judo (+100 kg)

Personal Coach: Oren Smadja

National Team Coach: Oren Smadja

Result in Rio 2016:Bronze Medal(31 participants)

Ori Sasson was born in Jerusalem and began training in Judo thanks to his brother. When he won the Israel Judo Championships at the age of 17, it was clear that the sport in Israel had a huge talent on its hands. Since 2010, Sasson reached incredible achievements internationally at the World Cup, European Championships and World Championships.

However, his highlight to date without a doubt was winning Israel’s second medal at the 2016 Rio Games. On his way to the medal, Sasson defeated Egyptian judoka Islam El Shahaby in the first round who then refused to shake Sasson’s hand at the end of the match. The Egyptian earned criticism for his unsportsmanlike conduct as Sasson garnered much support following his victory.

In the round of 16 Sasson beat Polish judoka Maciej Sarnacki via a Waza-ari and then defeated Dutch judoka Roy Meyer by a Waza-ari in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Sasson fell to French judoka Teddy Riner by a Waza-ari who eventually won the gold medal in the final seconds of his match. In the bronze medal match, Sasson beat Cuban Judoka Alex Garcia Mendoza in a contest that which was decided by penalties.

After almost a year and a half since winning the bronze medal and recovering from an injury, Sasson returned to action and on October 8, 2017, he won the gold medal at the Judo Grand Prix in Tashkent.